1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inside rearview mirror apparatus for a motor vehicle equipped in a vehicle compartment (hereinafter “inside mirror”).
2) Description of the Related Art
In this specification, “back” stands for an opposite direction to the running direction of the vehicle, and the back as seen from a driver. Further, “front” stands for the running direction of the vehicle, and the front side as seen from a driver.
As this type of inside mirror, for example, there can be mentioned one described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,648 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,979. The inside mirror described in these publications is explained below.
The inside mirror has a bracket (22, 5) supported by a stay (7, 1), a mirror housing (3, 10) tiltably supported by the bracket (22, 5) via a first shaft mechanism (22a, 15a, 5f, 10f) and having a prismatic mirror body (9, M), and an operating lever (34, 12) tiltably supported by the mirror housing (3, 10) via a second shaft mechanism (40, 17a, 12c, 10g) and also supported by the bracket (22, 5) so as to be able to be shifted between a first position and a second position via a resilient engagement unit (46, 14). In this inside mirror, the operating lever (34, 12) is shifted to the first position or to the second position. The mirror housing (3, 10) then tilts to the first tilt position or to the second tilt position with respect to the bracket (22, 5) and the stay (7, 1). Thereby, light reflected on the back reflection film of the prismatic mirror (9, M), having a high reflectance for the daytime, enters into the driver's eyes, or light reflected on the surface of the prismatic mirror (9, M), having a low reflectance for the nighttime, enters into the driver's eyes. As a result, glare of the irradiation light from the headlamps of a motor vehicle running behind in the nighttime can be prevented, and hence contributing to safe driving in the nighttime.
However, in the conventional inside mirror, the first shaft mechanism and the second shaft mechanism are simply composed of shafts (22a, 40, 5f, 12c) and bearings (15a, 17a, 10f, 10g). Therefore, in the conventional inside mirror, it is necessary to temporarily hold the bracket (22, 5), the mirror housing (3, 10), and the operating lever (34, 12) by some means, at the time of assembly of the bracket (22, 5), the mirror housing (3, 10), and the operating lever (34, 12). Hence, there is a problem in the assembly process.